Comments by Alceste / LJWorld.com

Alceste

Last login: Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Comment history

Gas prices approach record highs

Oh. The horror. 55mph on K-10. The horror. Let Alceste know kt starts.....

May 18, 2013 at 8:47 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

City recreation leaders not in favor of lighted tennis court plan near Lawrence High

Maybe the Lawrence Tennis Association could hold a Bake Sale like the schools do.

May 17, 2013 at 9:36 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

Drought relief expected in Douglas County

Here are the details for Douglas County, Kansas:

http://farm.ewg.org/region.php?fips=2...

•$56.1 million in subsidies 1995-2011.
$33.8 million in commodity subsidies.
$11.6 million in crop insurance subsidies.
$7.16 million in conservation subsidies.
$3.57 million in disaster subsidies.
•Kansas ranking: 6 of 50 States
•32 percent of farms in Kansas did not collect subsidy payments - according to USDA.
•Ten percent collected 73 percent of all subsidies.
•Amounting to $32.5 million over 17 years.
•Top 10%: $10,841 average per year between 1995 and 2011.
•Bottom 80%: $255 average per year between 1995 and 2011.

Recipients of Corn Subsidies** from farms in Douglas County, Kansas totaled $20,212,000 in from 1995-2011.

Rank

Recipient
(* ownership information available)

Location

Corn Subsidies**
1995-2011

1 Pine Family Farms Gen Ptn ∗ Lawrence, KS 66044 $762,355
2 Nunemaker-ross Inc ∗ Lawrence, KS 66044 $657,376
3 Guenther Bros Partnership ∗ Lawrence, KS 66047 $318,021
4 Mark Neis Eudora, KS 66025 $316,790
5 Neis Brothers Ptn ∗ Eudora, KS 66025 $307,018
6 Schaake Farms Inc ∗ Lawrence, KS 66046 $302,079
7 Roger L Kitsmiller Rev Tr Lawrence, KS 66046 $259,380
8 Robert Gabriel Sr Eudora, KS 66025 $258,727
9 Ralph D Kitsmiller Rev Tr Lawrence, KS 66046 $257,360
10 Triple B Farms Ptn ∗ Lawrence, KS 66049 $242,867
11 Rocking H Ranch Inc ∗ Berryton, KS 66409 $226,542
12 James Wiscombe Overbrook, KS 66524 $191,270
13 Carl E Flory Rev Trust Baldwin City, KS 66006 $185,722
14 Crist Dairy Ptn ∗ Overbrook, KS 66524 $182,731
15 Richard L Knabe Rev Trust Eudora, KS 66025 $178,558
16 Michael John Wintermantel Baldwin City, KS 66006 $158,413
17 Kermit Kalb Rev Tr Wellsville, KS 66092 $156,656
18 Clifford R Neis Eudora, KS 66025 $147,197
19 Metsker Farms ∗ Lawrence, KS 66047 $145,721
20 Allen Osborn Baldwin City, KS 66006 $145,438

May 13, 2013 at 3:43 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

Drought relief expected in Douglas County

More corn means more WELFARE paid to the poor farmers. Wonderful....

May 13, 2013 at 9:34 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

Editorial: Parking plans

A sign example:

http://www2.ljworld.com/users/photos/...

May 12, 2013 at 10:22 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

Editorial: Parking plans

Permit parking in congested University towns works in those times. Places like Manhattan, KS; Boulder, CO.; Ames, IA; Bloomington, IN.; Evanston, IL.; Provo, UT; Lexington, KY; Charlottesville, VA; and on and on and on.

As one writer opines above, East Lawrence suffers due to commuter parking and needs protection as well.

It's amusing how by the time a "new" idea reaches Lawrence, Kansas, it's already an "old" idea....and permit parking is just such an example: It's a time honored, working solution to a real problem.

KU has been allowed to walk away Scott Free from creating solutions to problems it creates all across the board and not just parking. Heck, Alceste recalls when KU named itself a "vehicle free campus" and those access booths went up......around and about 1972 that was. What happened? That campus isn't vehicle free anymore.

Permit parking works all across the US of A and there's no reason it can't work in Lawrence, Kansas USA. Yes, there will be a learning curve and that includes the enforcement aspect.....but it's long past due, particularly when one factors in the average size of the "car" driven today is easily 2x the size of the car the streets were built for.

http://theexpiredmeter.com/wp-content...

May 12, 2013 at 10:14 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

City agrees to create resident-only parking zone on street near KU campus

William Murfin, a member of Phi Delta Theta fraternity at 1621 Edgehill left out the reality that very large living group filed for a variance to modify their inadequate parking lot because the type of vehicles they're parking in that lot are so large. Coupled with that variance is creation of a playground, including a basketball court, among other things. Perhaps William Murfin, a member of Phi Delta Theta fraternity at 1621 Edgehill and that living facility might want to consider adding more parking instead of a playground?

Just as poster The_Big_B opines above "If you don't like tight parking, it seems like you should have two choices --- 1) Don't move in next to a large University, or 2) Provide for yourself, with off-street parking." One is compelled to ask "Why join a living group if it can't provide parking?" Read about the Phi Delta Theta parking variance request here:

http://www.lawrenceks.org/assets/pds/... ITEM #4

May 8, 2013 at 9:06 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

City agrees to create resident-only parking zone on street near KU campus

This concept reads like one that can work if Lawrence wants it to work. Lawrence, Kansas enters the arena of Residential Parking just as have many other university communities. What's the big deal? It does appear it's been done before and even at KSU in Manhattan.

Compare Lawrence and KU to Evanston, IL and Northwestern University as an example:

"There are 25 different Residential Parking Districts established in areas where there is high demand for on-street parking or a need to reduce commuter parking in residential areas." The City of Evanston, again, the home of Northwestern notes "Only residents who live within a specific residential area can purchase residential parking permits."

It's not a new concept.

Read all about a fair and equitable system of parking in a place similar to Lawrence here:

http://www.cityofevanston.org/parking...

KU has a lot of parking for sale to students, staff, faculty and pretty much anyone connected with the University. A Regular Joe or Jane Lawrence resident cannot purchase such a parking permit from KU.

Perhaps KU might want to consider opening up their lots and garages to any member of the Lawrence community. Alceste will take bets that the majority of cars parked on public streets around and about the KU footprint do not reside in the area. The owners of these cars who either attend KU or work at KU have options. Mere residents of Lawrence do not have these same options.

Evanston, IL and many, many, many other communities across the USA have resident parking mandates. They've had them for decades. It's past time Lawrence began to examine parity with respect to parking for non-KU folks.

Issue Residential Parking Permits
♦ *Manhattan, KS*: issues two permits per property at nominal fee. Overnight parking in neighborhoods near campus prohibited without a permit.
♦ Newark, DE: No more than 2 residential parking permits will be issued per address for any non-owner occupant single-family type dwelling requiring a rental permit.
♦ Columbus, OH: Limits number of ‘stacked’ cars in a driveway; also limits to area devoted to parking and maneuvering of vehicles in the University District Overlay to 35% of lot to prevent the “auto salvage yards” syndrome.
♦ Eugene, OR: One permit per address, with a limited number of additional permits for a 2-hour parking limit only.
♦ East Lansing, MI: 24/7 program in select neighborhoods, which limits number of permits [up to 3 or 4, depending on area] per address. No on-street parking 2am-5am. Grandfathered businesses exempted.
♦ Bloomington, IN: Limits number of permits issued Greek houses in the neighborhood. Greek Houses do not receive visitor passes.

Kindly note what has been done in Bloomington! http://www.ocssral.colostate.edu/town...

May 8, 2013 at 7:25 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

Ad campaign accuses Kansas schools of low academic standards

http://www.theatlantic.com/national/a... provides a most interesting tool to easily compare Kansas schools to those across the globe. Kansas ain't doing too well as a whole. If one is selective in picking "superior districts" one might be fooled, however. However, if one looks at a "common district" one shall read it and weep.

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/a... provides an outstanding, objective study by Stanford University which underscores just how terribly wrong the entire public school system is in the USA.

"The world--and the United States--are wildly uneven when it comes to the ratio of top-scoring math students. A total of 26 countries separate the top-ranking state, Massachusetts, and the last, Mississippi....." : http://www.theatlantic.com/national/a...

While certainly Chad, Cote D'Ivorie, The Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan, and Nepal may not be doing so well either, funny how "comparable nations" to the USA are doing so much better. It ain't a Koch thang.....it's a hillbilly Kansas thang.......

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/a... just for fun: "Even if we treat each state as its own country, not a single one makes it into the top dozen contenders on the list. The best performer is Massachusetts, ringing in at No. 17. Minnesota also makes it into the upper-middle tier, followed by Vermont, New Jersey, and Washington. And down it goes from there, all the way to Mississippi, whose students—by this measure at least—might as well be attending school in Thailand or Serbia."

May 7, 2013 at 6:46 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )